Cupid, are you stupid?
by roguenin20
Summary: "It's a gift from the Gods!", they said. Sasuke begged to differ. "It's a pain in the ass, that's what he is!" SasuNaru, ninjaverse.
1. Uchiha Sasuke

**Diclaimer: **I under no circumstance own Naruto. When you will see more fan service, then you might question the ownership! ;)

**Warning: **Male X male, yaoi, fucking, licking, swearing, fucking, swearing and fucking. All clear?

* * *

"I'm home." he announced softly as he opened the door, listening intently as the silence carried forward his unanswerable statement. He knew no reply ever came, yet he repeated this action on a daily basis, more as a reassurance than anything else.

He sighed loudly stepping inside his house, closing the door behind him, as he leaned against it, banging his head softly in mild frustration.

He remained still for a few moments or maybe minutes, his cool palms resting on each side of his body, feeling the texture of the old style Japanese door against his cold skin.

He finally opened his eyes, watching the ceiling nonchalantly as a small prickle of sweat made his way onto his cheek.

"Fuck it all!" Sasuke grunted angrily, pushing himself off the door. "I don't need any of this shit." He decided out loud, as he made his way across the hallway towards his living room.

He passed by a few framed photos and paintings, placed in line all over the wall, glancing at each and every one of them as he usually did, his expression changing ever so slightly depending on which one came into view.

His eyes lingered a bit more over the last one as he felt his heart thumping loudly in his ears. For whatever reason he felt enamoured with the painting and it always gave him a sense of calm and composure every time he looked at it.

It was just what he needed in this moment as he felt his earlier anger and restlessness slowly melt away.

Eyes fixed on the painting, he failed to gently stir his direction towards the left, thus he ended up bumping his right foot against the table's leg.

Again.

"Each and every fucking single time!" he shouted as he instinctively started jumping on one foot, while nursing his toes, flashes of lightning passing through his body.

Pain subdued, he glared angrily at the table, wondering for the millionth time why isn't he moving it, then switching the death glares to the painting, blaming it, as usual, for distracting him.

He sighed in resignation as he let go of his foot, thinking of this as a tradition of coming home, or particularly, his own traditional way of entering his living room. He untied the katana positioned around his waist, as he took a seat on the nearest futon, letting his body sink in and relax.

He let loose, and finally discarded to the side, the scarf that was hanging tightly against his pale neck.

Reaching behind his back to untie the white obi that was keeping his kimono together he was startled, all of sudden, by one of the loudest thunders he had ever heard in his life.

He rose to his feet immediately, making his way to the wooden terrace in his backyard.

In one swift motion he slid the doors open and stepped outside, in full alert, wanting to make sure that the sound was indeed the prediction of a big storm. He couldn't risk, like last time, having his house vandalised by petty thieves.

He placed his hand above his eyes, trying to keep his hair, violently shoved around by the winds, from obstructing his view. Sasuke stepped of from his porch, his naked feet touching the soft grass, jumping on the roof without hesitation to better scan the perimeter of his land.

In times like these he was not grateful that his house was isolated from the rest of the village. Somehow lowlife thieves saw this as an open invitation to try and vandalise his property.

After a few minutes of restless searching with his eyes, he closed them, deactivating the Sharingan, content that the sound he heard earlier was indeed thunder and nothing more.

Rain started falling rapidly from the skies and this was all the reassurance he needed. He panicked for nothing.

In the end it was better safe than sorry as even with all the traps and barriers laid around his land a powerful enough individual would be able to bypass them. Yet again, someone that strong wouldn't be wasting his time trying to infiltrate in his house.

Only fools and idiots dared to do that.

'Speaking of which..' Sasuke thought turning around as random traps and bombs around the property started detonating behind him.

"So somebody was indeed trespassing." he smirked thanking the deities for sending him somebody to blow off his steam and anger on. "At least they were smart enough to use the weather as a concealment." he said in fake praise.

"Not smart enough though." he remarked shortly after looking in the general direction of the thief as he detonated yet another bomb. What Sasuke had to do now was to figure out his direction and wait for him at the end of it. He never before had to fight any thieves, as his traps usually scare them away, but this one seemed rather persistent.

The rain was falling hard and quick, his clothes already drenched, his body getting wet and cold fast. To no avail he tried whipping the liquid away from his face, his action no match to the power of the rain.

"What got into you today?" he asked nobody in particular glancing at the sky, as if waiting for a reply. He wasn't very old, but in all his life he had never seen such a manifestation of nature's power.

Puddles with different sizes were forming overall his land and if this kept up, his house would get flooded in no time. In the back of his head he had to wonder if the possibility of a ninja that can manipulate the weather was viable.

Unable to further debate this hypothesis, his attention was drawn back to the fields as a series of traps in completely different locations detonated almost simultaneously.

"Ambush?" his eyes widened slightly as he realised, by the number of traps detonated, that the gang was quite huge in numbers.

The near perimeter around the house was packed with sealing jutsus that would automatically launch as soon as somebody got too close. He was surprised that one of them activated, capturing whoever approached, in the technique. He could not see the individual yet, but he saw the four pillars raising from the ground capturing the enemy. No matter how strong he was, there was no escaping it. As soon as it was launched whoever was inside it would remain powerless, as the more powerful the individual inside was, the more powerful the barrier was, as its source of energy was the individual himself.

It was an appraised secret of the clan, one of the most powerful sealing techniques known to man, which is why the clan was always the target of other villages. What they did not seem to understand was that only somebody from the clan with their particular bloodline can do and undo the technique. Regardless of the fact that they would be able to learn the technique, and even that was close to impossible, they'd be unable to yield it, activate it and use it as they please.

This information has been made public in order to stop people hunting them down, but to no avail.

"Simpletons." he grumbled under his breath, wasting no time to go and check the seal.

If he was to get to that individual first, then he would be able to extract information from him easily so he knows who he is dealing with.

His feet were touching the wet ground, muddying his clothes and legs, but he had no time to be concerned about appearances as he was sprinting as fast as he could towards the location of the seal.

When it came into view, he stopped dead in his tracks, glaring at the seal then cautiously around him.

"Was this a decoy?" he questioned himself as he neared ever so slowly towards the pillars. He kept glancing to his sides, then behind him suspiciously, expecting to get ambushed any second now.

The fact that the horrendous rain and all types of noises from within his perimeter stopped was doing nothing to ease his suspicion.

He put his hand behind his back to draw his Katana only to realise there was nothing there. Cursing his ignorance, for coming out on a battlefield without a sword, he activated his Sharingan once again, in hopes of seeing whatever the enemy had prepared for him.

His heart was starting to race as the deafening silence was getting to him. Everything was absolutely still and it made him even more anxious. Usually he was the one on the other side of this type of game, but now he played right in it. This type of game was unpredictable and nerve wrecking for the victims. It was mentally and emotionally tiring and you would either crack under the pressure or let your guard down. As soon as either happened, then the enemy would strike.

Even so, Sasuke was from a different category and after a few uneventful minutes, he decided that waiting there for whatever it was to come was pointless. He glanced towards the cage and made the last few steps until he was positioned right in front of it.

He crouched besides it, trying to get a better look at the thing that was inside and was slightly startled when it started growling. His face didn't betray anything, but he let a smirk play on his lips.

"You must be a though little fella, considering you've been here for so long, yet you still have the energy to growl at me."

As if sensing the mockery the cub rose to his feet shakily and Sasuke could swear he was glaring at him tauntingly.

Being the bigger person here, and well...a real person at that, he chose to ignore the animal an action that seemed to stir him even more. Given the lack of energy and his immaturity, he snarled as hard and menacing as he could, while letting the nine tails behind him flow wildly.

This time, Sasuke was taken aback and uncharacteristically, he let his body fall backwards from his crouched position, his ass landing in the mud.

He had a gob smacked expression on his face, not being able to believe what he just witnessed in front of his eyes. He raised his index finger towards the petite cub and voiced out loud his conflicting thoughts.

"What the hell are you?"

The cub seemed to be smiling at him, pleased with the reaction he obtained from the other man and Sasuke had to use every ounce of self restraint he had not to smack his own face, just to make sure he was not imagining it.

Maybe he was under a genjutsu of some sorts? Maybe Itachi was fooling around with his mind again?

No.

He decided it was all real when he saw the cub hitting the ground, unconscious.

Sasuke had to decide quick what he was going to do, since the more he left the cub inside the barrier, the weaker his chances of survival.

"Tch."

He may be anything, but he wasn't going to take the life of an innocent animal. He couldn't care less about his life or fate, but he was not about to let him die in one of his own techniques.

Placing his hands on the wall of the barrier, his Sharingan started spinning.

"Dismiss." he announced and was pleased to see the walls disappearing and the pillars retracting in the ground.

The technique didn't even have time to be undone completely for a ball of brown to jump right out from within it on his shoulder. Using his body as a propeller, he pushed against him as hard as he could and Sasuke had only time to glance behind him to see the cube jumping through the air and landing on the roof of his house, before his body hit the muddy ground violently.

Really now, since this cub came into picture he was feeling less and less like a ninja.

"Why you..!"

Fuming and cursing under his breath, he immediately rose to his feet, eyes locked with the cub.

The small animal appeared as if he was grinning mischievous and Sasuke had to hand it to him. This was no regular forest animal. He was able to concoct a plan to fool him into lifting the barrier. Add that to the fact that his shoulder was throbbing painfully from the sheer force with which his paws pushed against his skin, he was glad the animal was making a run for it. Sasuke had no time to be dealing with this nonsense when his house was being under -

Realisation finally dawned upon him when he took in how much the cub actually jumped. It took him almost one minute at full speed to get from his house to here , yet the cub jumped without much of an effort.

He sighed, feeling tired for getting so worked up for nothing. The ruckus apparently was caused by that baby animal that ventured in an unknown location.

Great.

He started walking back to his house, eyes lingering on the cub, wondering why he isn't making a run for it now that he's free.

His question was answered when he witnesses the baby animal roll his eyes in his head, body collapsing on his roof.

He felt like making a rude comment about karma being a bitch, but when he realised he would be bickering with an animal that would not understand him, he just rolled his eyes, while slowly continuing with his journey.

The cub was sliding down at a steady pace and Sasuke had to ponder if he should sprint to catch him or simply let him be.

Ten feet away from the house, the cubs cold body touched the ground and instinctively Sasuke's eyes widen as he made a frenzy step forward, though it was too late as the animal was already resting in the tall grass.

Recomposing himself, he got by his side and looked down. He was still alive though his breathing was slow.

For the first time he noticed a couple of arrow points stuck to his side and his bloodied fur. Apparently he was being hunted and hence why he got onto his property.

He would admit that the animal was weird and uncommon, more of a reason for Sasuke not to get involved with him.

He stepped over the cub, onto his wooden deck and with his back turned at him, he spoke slowly, voice above a whisper, almost apologetic.

"Sorry. I'm not an animal lover."

With that he took the last few steps, closing the door behind him, his head hanging low, something akin to pain bubbling in his chest.

Outside it started pouring once again.

* * *

**A.N: **Ok, that's it for the first chapter. Let me know what you guys think thus far. I'm quite excited about the story, the only conflicting issue that I have is the track is going. I have a few different ways in which the story can advance and the problem is going to be deciding on one.

Now then...ten points for anybody that can see a real obvious connection in this story! Don't think of Naruverse in general, just here in this chapter. If you don't see it, then no worries, probably next chapter it will be made clear. ;)


	2. Sacred Beasts

**Author's note: **First of all, I'd like to start by offering a BIG, BIG thanks to everybody who took the time to leave a review as it really means a lot to me! I especially enjoyed reading your guesses about the outcome and the connection I have pointed to be existent in the previous chapter. Two of the guest comments right about hit home run with regards to how things will turn out in this chapter, but the connection within the first chapter was missed. Everybody seemed to think the sole connection I was making was with the painting and I'll give you that one, as it stood out! The 'real' one that I was referring to would have been a bit hard to catch and while I did say it would be revealed in this chapter, it proved impossible to fit in the context.

Also, I have _no _intention of being rude, uptight or superior sounding, but I usually don't reply to reviews as I'm not sure if it's fitting or not. o.0' Just so there are no hard feelings, if you do expect a reply of some sorts, _please_ state so in the comment! :D

**Disclaimer: **If I owned the characters I wouldn't be living with rent, yo!

**Warnings: **Mature content, male X male, language. This chapter though is almost 'clean'.

**Pairings: **(as somebody pointed out I didn't make it abundantly clear - my bad!) SasuNaru and as far as this chapter is concerned, mentions of SasuSaku.

* * *

**Chapter 2: **Sacred Beasts

The slow crackling of the fire and the steady beats of the clock were the only sounds populating the otherwise lifeless room. The shadows were dancing lazily on the walls and it looked as if the rain, barely audible in the background, was trying to offer them a rhythm to go by.

A lone female figure entered the property, sighing in disappointment at the crude display within the fire place. The logs were thrown in chaotically, some clinging onto the edge of the metal separator dangerously close to the carpet. With steps bathed in elegance she approached it, kneeling besides the small white carpet. She grazed the tip of her fingers over its soft surface appreciating the way the high class material felt against her skin. Without a second thought, Sakura picked it up, throwing it gently to the side, proceeding to properly arrange the logs of wood within the fireplace in order to avoid any risk of this place burning up from the ground.

She mumbled something under her breath about ignorance and early death wishes as she lifted her slender figure from the ground. While Sakura was feeling frustrated and annoyed on the inside nothing was showing on her emotionless, stern face just as one would expect from a high-end priestess as herself. The young lady made a mental note to give him a lecture again about the woolly-headedness of his actions as soon as Sasuke would return from God knew where.

A glance at the clock informed her of the tardiness of the time, but she simply could not afford to leave right now. It was difficult enough evading unnoticed, considering that after 5 pm a priestess is prohibited to roam around, but nevertheless Sakura accepted the possible consequences of her actions in order to verify with her own eyes if Sasuke was fine. Apparently, no one else was aware of the commotion that occurred yesterday, then again her awareness and perceiving abilities were by far the best in the whole village.

She slid her finger over the surface of a wooden sideboard, curling the corner of her mouth in disapproval at the amount of dust it was on it. Momentarily letting it slide, she shifted her eyes over the framed pictures as the priestess always did, feeling the same pang of hurt passing through her heart like a sharp needle when hers was nowhere to be seen yet again. Coming prepared for this type of outcome she pulled out of the obi of her dark purple kimono a framed photo with Sasuke and her, placing it neatly in line with the others.

Knowing that she was alone, she let out a content sound pass her lips as she scanned the rightfulness position of her frame amongst the others. She went as far as letting a small smile slip as she noticed the addition of a new porcelain animal knick-knack and for somebody constantly claiming to hate anything that could breath, his actions were sure hollering louder than his words. Sakura knew better than this though as she had a first-hand taste of what was it like to be raised within the Uchiha clan and could understand why he turned out the way he did. No matter how much the clan tried to kill his innocence and heart, there were parts of him that reminded her of the Sasuke back in the days when they were naïve kids.

Sakura decided it was enough dawdling around as she began watering the plants throughout his house that she bought for him along the years. He rebelled violently each time she presented him with one, yet these were the only things from her that apparently he couldn't bring himself to throw away. She was putting this down to the fact that he might feel lonely all by himself and any company was better than no company.

As she got by the plant near the glass window that overlooked the backyard she was slightly startled to see Sasuke sitting in the muddied grass, under in the rain, with his back pressed against the porch.

"What are you doing?" Sakura was quick to go outside raising her voice slightly in order to convey the concern she felt for his imprudent actions. Arriving at the edge of the porch, she spotted a small unconscious animal sitting beside him or to put it more accurately, Sasuke sitting beside the animal. He did not make a move to acknowledge her presence and she couldn't help but feel puzzled about what her eyes were witnessing. He was drenched to his very core, yet was calmly stationed cross legged alongside the cub as if guarding over it, looking completely oblivious to the rain. "What are you doing?" she attempted again with a drop of undignified desperation attached to her voice. Sakura climbed down the two wooden stairs connecting the deck with the ground and made her way to the couple's side, all the while trying to raise the bottom of her kimono as further away as she could from the dirty soil. Her other hand was protecting her face from the rain, though it seemed rather unhelpful.

"Just what do you think you're do-"the priestess stopped mid-sentence phased by the unpredictable scene. Sasuke had his eyes closed, face lowered and he looked as if in deep meditation, but the weirdest of them all was the string of blue chakra connecting him and the fox-like creature. It was all very baffling to her and she wasn't sure how to proceed. She made an attempt to reach for Sasuke in order to snap him out of it, but she was startled and stopped by his fatigued voice.

"Don't." he said, voice a notch above a whisper. Sasuke opened his eyes painfully slow and slightly raised his head towards the priestess, shocking her with the tiredness she saw in them. If anything, the bangs under his eyes were a clear indication of the strain he was putting on himself and Sakura was perplexed. For how long has he been standing here and towards what purpose? "You'll interrupt the chakra flow if you touch me." He clarified.

She saw the string of chakra getting weaker and weaker until nothing was left. As soon as it dissipated Sasuke's body collapsed to the ground.

* * *

Sakura was looking over the two lying unconsciously in Sasuke's bed as different hypothesis were passing through her mind, one more improbable than the other. She had already cleared the wounds of the cub and wrapped most on his body in band aids, but it seemed futile as they appeared to be healing before her eyes. It sounded insane and even a mind as sharp as hers couldn't decipher the reason behind it. Sakura put it all down to hallucination and continued to treat the animal just for good measure. She would not aid unless requested to do so as per the oath she took upon entering the Uchiha clan, but somehow this animal seemed important to Sasuke, so she acted out of her own will.

Why the boy would put his life on the line, she did not know, but one thing that she did know was that this apparently frail cub held immense power. Out of every fibre of his being he was emanating danger and as a cautionary mean she sealed his powers, allowing his body to receive just the minimum it would need in order to be kept alive.

"Why are you here?"

Sakura was startled out of her one sided glare competition with the fox by Sasuke raspy voice. She could not contain the shiver that went down her spine.

"Is it wrong of me to ensure my husband is alright?" she questioned quietly, yet confidently from her position besides the bed. The chair creaked as she leaned backwards against it, adjusting her position. While she was looking directly at Sasuke, she made sure to keep herself aware at all times of the cub that was resting on the other side of the mattress.

"Stop uttering nonsense. I have already left the clan." He reminded her.

"Yes. But you could always come back. All you have to do is – "

"I'm _not _apologizing for being a sane person. I'm _not _apologizing for not agreeing with the clan's ways of obtaining power." Sasuke raised his voice as he lifted himself slightly up. Drowsiness overwhelmed his sense as his back collided with the headrest.

"Are you OK?" Sakura asked worried getting by his side in an instant.

He glared at her and she understood the message letting go of his shoulder and sitting beside him in bed. "Why are you even here, priestess?" he asked annoyed.

A flash of hurt passed by her face upon hearing the young man and future husband address her with the official honorific. "You know there is absolutely no need to call me that. Nobody is here." She waited eagerly for a few seconds allowing him to rectify himself and enunciate the one word she has been longing to hear leave his lips for an awful long time. As always, she felt the hollowness within her chest envelope her whole being when the boy refused to play along with her desires, thus Sakura decided to drop the matter.

"Did my father send you again to spy on me?" he pressed bitterly when he saw his questions were not getting answered.

"Your judgement of me is harsh." Sakura whispered as she tucked one of the rebel strands of hair behind her ear. "I'd never act against you out of my own will."

Rapidly, Sasuke was getting tired of his questions being evaded or being answered with another question, yet he, more than anyone knew the protocol of his clan so he could not hold a grudge against the girl. She was a puppet and his father was her master.

"Go home." He commanded as he placed his arm over his eyes.

"But – "she attempted to make a comment aimed towards the sleeping fox but his angry remark made her stop.

"Go home!" uncovering his eyes, he glared at the taken aback priestess. "If you know what's good for you."

Sakura raised her slim body trying to appear as dignified as she could as she left his room. "You'll be sorry for this."

As he leaned his head against the wooden headrest, he held no doubt in mind to the truth behind her words.

* * *

Roughly five minutes later Sasuke was in the same position admiring his ceiling, all the while having the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that somebody was looking at him. In order to get himself out of this self-induced paranoia, he found the power within him to raise his head a bit and look at the feet of his bed.

If his personality would have been any different he would have probably yelled something about mothers or Jesus or sweet mothers of said Jesus but given who he was and the insane lack of physical strength, Sasuke simply glared sluggishly at the animal sitting in his bed, violently flailing his tails. The fox was looking at him dangerously with arched eyes and something akin to a smirk on his face. In different circumstances or in a different life altogether, Sasuke might have even been proud to know somebody that had the potential to rival his own smirk. Now though, the only thing he did feel was resignation as he felt his life hanging by a thread. He could sense the menace oozing out of the animal while he on the other hand was completely defenceless.

"If you want to kill me" he finally spoke "now is your best chance." Unknowingly to the fox, Sasuke on the inside was trying to think up possible strategies as he urged his stamina to return to his body in order to be able to move at least minimally. Buying time when being weak by assuring an opponent he'd feel sorry later on if he didn't terminate his life at that very point was one of his trump cards used only in critical situations. Of course, things could always turn against him by getting the opponent enraged with his cockiness but that has never been the case as the enemy usually felt empowered knowing that Sasuke was unable to fight back. The mindless idiots would then proceed to fiddle with Sasuke, applying mild to medium torturing techniques as a way of showing their superiority. What they did not know then was the grave mistake they committed by not taking his life when invited to do so, thus allowing him to unleash his secret technique

Coming from an expert clan of sealers, he expected people to know better than to take him on, but alas one never learns. What he needed in order for his technique to unleash was his chakra level getting to zero and five minutes of deep concentration. The waiting period was longer compared to others that could wield it from within the Uchiha clan, but it hasn't been long since he's been able to master it. The waiting time for it was risky, but then again his life would have been in grave danger anyway with his chakra level hitting rock bottom. It was a gamble he had to take.

Then again, the current situation was entirely different to his previous battles. He was dealing with an unintelligent being on which time stalling might have no effect.

Sasuke was surprised to hear the animal snicker at his comment and was left wondering if he was understood to a certain degree.

"You're such a wimp."

The young Uchiha has seen and heard many things in the little life he had thus far. As a result, not many things succeeded to surprise or shock him anymore, but he couldn't stop his eyes from widening upon hearing the fox speak. That was not even the most terrifying thing in this context. The fact that his windows shook due to the graveness of his voice took the cookie in his eyes.

"I cannot believe it was a guy like you that I was supposed to find!" The fox spoke again making the windows and other frail items in the room vibrate under the power of his voice.

Considered a genius from a very young age, Sasuke had incredible confidence in his intellectual prowess but for the first time he felt unable to be in control of a situation. He was losing the edge he never held from the beginning and all of this in front of an inferior species. While he _**understood**_ the words spoken by the fox, he could not for the life of him _**understand **_the meaning _**behind**_ those words. "_One_: What?" he paused slightly considering if he should even voice his second point, "and _two_: could you lower your voice before you demolish my house?" Sasuke felt awfully childish and stupid for uttering those questions, especially his second one, that apparently were voiced as a crude manifestation of the astonishment blooming within him.

The fox looked a bit surprised by his second statement as well before bursting into a laugh so loud it moved Sasuke's bed around. The boy was not as amused.

"I like you, kid." The weird animal announced abruptly stopping his fun-filled moment and pointing a sharp claw towards Sasuke.

"Yeah, well, I wish I could say the same thing (!)" he morosely declared, deciding right there and then that the only menace the fox held was towards his mental health. It might have been too early to jump to conclusions but he simply got the feeling that he wasn't in as grave danger as anticipated and if the fox was serious about hurting Sasuke he would have already done so, being no need for weak chit-chat.

"Give it time. You'll realise later how charming I really am." The fox declared.

"Doubtful." Sasuke spoke with conviction as he raised his body a bit more against the headrest wanting to get rid of the numbness forming in his upper back and legs. When it finally dawned upon him that he was having some sort of playful banter with an animal that he somewhat seemed to also enjoy, he was left with no choice but question his mental sanity. Seeing no other path though, for maybe what was the first time in his life, Sasuke just went with the flow in a quest of seeking out information. "Who are you?"

"I am the nine-tailed fox. The _amazing _nine-tailed fox, for you."

Sasuke rolled his eyes deciding that momentarily he did not care to find out if he actually had a name. "How can you talk?"

This time it was the cub's turn to roll his eyes. "The same way you do. I part my lips and words come out."

Admittedly, it was not one of the smartest questions he ever asked, yet it did not change the fact that this was an animal capable of forming coherent words, albeit too loud for his liking. Apparently, the nine-tails did not see anything out of place with that, so he decided to push his embarrassment to the side and continue to question the still willing fox. "You said earlier you were supposed to find me. What do you mean?"

"Oh, so you don't remember yet." The fox remarked making Sasuke raise his eyebrow.

"Remember what?"

"I'm forbidden to disclose that information."

"Forbidden? By whom?"

"I'm forbidden to disclose that information."

"Did you get stuck on that one sentence?" Sasuke asked getting rapidly annoyed. Why was everybody treating him like an idiot today by refusing to answer his questions?

The fox appeared to be shrugging. "Anyways, the you right now will have to do. We have to get moving as soon as possible." He got himself off from the bed and started paddling towards the door. When he sensed no movement, the fox glanced behind him, appalled to see the human still in bed. "What are you doing? I just said we have to go as soon as possible!"

Sasuke did not enjoy being pushed around or taking orders from anybody, especially an under species. He would be going nowhere anytime soon with basically zero chakra, breathing and speaking being all the man could do at this very instant, yet he decided to humour the impertinent cub. "Go where?"

"I don't know."

The problem with his statement was lying in the fact that he did really seem to mean every bit of it, which for Sasuke was terribly aggravating. "You want me to go with you but you don't know _where?"_ if the venom within his words would have been real, the fox might have been dead by now. "Are you hearing the stupidity behind your own words? I don't even know who the hell you are or what you are!"

"Ok, gee, calm down." The fox's mutter passed unnoticed by Sasuke's continuous shouts.

"What makes you think I'd follow you around obediently? Enough with the fun and games already! You achieved your goal and took over my body to drain me dry of chakra and unless you would also like to attempt to take my life, then I'd appreciate it if you'd just get the fuck out of here."

"You're wrong."

"What?" he said in disbelief not sure what the fox was on about.

"I did not take over your body. I do not hold such powers." The fox explained moving closer to Sasuke. "It was you and you alone that did it."

"Nonsense!" he bit back defensively. "I felt my consciousness fading away and my senses overwhelmed by a strong desire to feed you my chakra. No way would I do that out of my own will!"

"Ay. He warned me you were going to be paranoid and hard to persuade, but this is exceeding my expectations." The fox sighed. "Listen up. I'm going to take it from the top. I am a Sacred Beast. There are only two entities in this world capable of serving one of the Sacred Beasts chakra. One of them is my master, who I thank the deities is nothing like you." His comment earned him a heated glare which the cub completely ignored. "The other, surprisingly so, is a puny human such as yourself."

"Puny?" Sasuke growled between closed teeth. "Who the hell are you calling puny, you small bastard fox?"

"Don't dare pick on my size, human. Even in this form I am fully capable of tearing you to bits!" he snarled letting his tails fly loosely.

"Sure. Immobilise me by draining my chakra then act all high and mighty (!)" Sasuke rolled his eyes unfazed by the display in front of him.

The nine-tails huffed. "It's not my fault your human body cannot withstand such a trivial task. Normally you would feel absolutely no shortage of power. At most you'd lose 1% of it."

At most 1%? Just what was this weird creature talking about? Finally, Sasuke caught up onto something. "Wait. You just said "Sacred Beasts". There are more like you?"

The fox nodded. "There were nine of us, all created by the same individual." He looked knowingly at the young boy, but it went unnoticed.

"Were?"

"Yes. I'm the only one left." The fox whispered bitterly and even though Sasuke knew it wasn't the right time for this, he was grateful for the lowered tone as his windows finally stopped shaking.

"What happened to the rest then?" he questioned out of curiosity. Apparently the fox got the better of him and now had his interest.

"Don't know. Could be dead, could be captured somewhere."

"And what was the purpose of your creation? World domination?" now he was starting to get slightly worried considering the danger such things roaming around freely might impose. He made a target to find out as much as possible about these creatures to prevent the possible extermination of the world. If needed to, Sasuke would use his own two hands to kill each and every sacred beast.

The fox though laughed out loud. "World domination? Jesus, typical remark concocted by a human's brain."

Sasuke grunted. "Then?"

"Presents."

"What?" he asked in disbelief.

"Exactly as you heard. We were presents for my master." The cub nodded proudly. "My master has an extremely big heart and loved with all his might the entire world and everything and everyone residing within it. He had a deep fondness for animals, hence our creation. We were made specifically for him and all of us have unusual qualities."

Sasuke nodded his understanding feeling a bit at ease. Now his weird, unique appearance and traits were starting to make sense. "Who created you?"

"Unfortunately, I am not allowed to dis-"

"Yes, not allowed to disclose that information. I get the drill already." He shook his head frustrated. "Then what do you want with me? Help you find the other beasts?" he spoke begrudgingly not feeling in the least appealed to get involved in something so weird.

"No. Help me save my master." The fox smiled and suddenly Sasuke wished to be back in the dreadful mission he just returned from. This situation was just getting ridiculous.

"What makes you think that I am going to help you?" the boy deadpanned finding enough strength return to him to cross his hands over his chest.

"You owe me that much." When the young Uchiha raised his eyebrow in a clear sign of disapproval to his statement, the fox felt obliged to continue. "The truth of the matter is I found you by chance. Your chakra level is so low it'd have never crossed my mind you're the one I'm after."

This insulting little beast was most likely having a death wish for belittling Sasuke over and over again. He vowed to make the fox swallow his words as soon as he felt better.

"It was miscalculation from my part to enter your property. Actually, the miscalculation stood in the fact that there was no possible way to foresee the amount of traps and sealing techniques." Sasuke shot him a short-lived smug look, instantly killed by his next statement. "Who knew a person could be _that _paranoid?"

The young Uchiha swore right there and then to butcher the impertinent fool in tiny little pieces and throw his remains into the ocean.

Unaware of the murderous intent coming from the boy, the fox continued with his story unperturbed. "My injuries were already severe and I was unable to keep the healing effect on as I was running out of chakra. Your traps had their final say in the matter and I thought that was the end for me. Most disturbing was the fact that I thought I'd die before completing my mission."

"Still, I fail to see _how _I am in debt to you." Sasuke pointed out feeling capable of winning this argument.

"I've been searching for you for the past 100 years restlessly, thus you _owe _me that much."

Sasuke's eyes widen slightly. "100 years?" Just how old was the fox? In his eyes, he looked like a baby animal and yet…

He shook his head snapping out of it. "Yet, it's none of my concern." Sasuke concerned. "It was a decision you took on your own to come and find me for reasons that are still not clear. For someone who keeps trashing my abilities you sure seem interested in whatever aid you think I am able to provide." He sent the fox an all-knowing, superior look.

"Very well. Allow me to bring a new light over this matter. If you will help me, I'll fulfil your heart's desire."

Sasuke smirked, not believing his act even for one second. "My heart's desire, eh?" he closed his eyes feeling rather amused by the complete debris the fox was trying to serve him. "Are you like a fucking Cupid of some sorts then?"

The nine-tailed beast chuckled lightly. "Oh, yes, I forgot you humans have a knack for the weirdest mythology shit. I guess that makes me a Cupid then." He ended his statement with a smile.

"Cupid? Are you stupid?" he mocked. "Or rather, do you think I am, to fall for such thing?"

"The painting." The fox spoke seriously all of a sudden as he started walking around the room, trying to calm down his rising temper. This human was doing nothing to make his job any easier and he didn't have much time to waste here convincing him of things he should have already been aware of.

Those words made Sasuke pay attention to him and drop his ridiculing act, wondering where all this was going.

"The painting on the hallway you hold so dear to your heart for reasons you don't quite understand. I can take you to that place."

"How did you -?" the incredulity in his voice was palpable as he felt his heart rate increase ever so slightly.

"I just told you how. You need to start paying proper attention to me or this will get us nowhere." He sighed jumping into bed besides Sasuke. "I hate to have to repeat myself over and over again, you know! I can feel and interpret your feelings just fine. I can read your heart's desire as clear as daylight."

More out of instinct, Sasuke placed his hand over his heart in a futile attempt to protect his privacy. His gesture earned him a laugh.

"You had been searching for years for it, wanting to confirm if it was real or simply a bogus painting. You did not understand the attraction you felt towards the shrine, garden and a large plot of land featured in it and wanted to see it with your own eyes. Your passion started to border on obsession. I'm not sure why but all of a sudden you seized your searches. I take it you gave up?" the fox looked up expectantly at Sasuke who was too baffled by the accuracy of his words to speak.

"Well?" the fox pressed.

"What?" Sasuke asked unsure of what was requested of him as he snapped out of his reverie.

"Did you give up on finding the shrine?"

"No." he replied honestly, fully aware how weird that might have made him sound. Then again, he somehow doubted the fox's opinion of him could get any lower considering all the 'praise' Sasuke obtained so far.

To his surprise, his admission was met with a smile. "I'm glad to hear that."

"So do you know the location?" he finally asked starting to consider his offer.

"Know it?" the animal was enveloping himself in that superior air once again and Sasuke was displeased to find that it might've been more powerful than his own. "I lived there all of my life!"

"What?" piecing it all together rather quickly, he ensued with his theory. "Do you mean – "

"Yes." the fox shouted excitedly finally succeeding to bring down the lamp by his nightstand with the sheer force of his voice and break it in pieces. "That's my house and my master's shrine!"

* * *

**Author's note: **I made the chapter (compared to the previous one) longer in an attempted apology as I took so long to decide on the course of the story. The amount of times I re-wrote this piece right here (completely differently!) is painful to even state, but every time I just hit a wall and couldn't continue. I remembered all of a sudden a workshop I attended around two years ago (provided by my college) with a rather famous Brit author. She was talking to us about the possible ways in which a story could evolve and whatnots. I raised my hand then and asked her - "When you are at a 'roundabout' of ideas regarding the possible continuation of a story, how do you know you opted for the right one?"

She said you'll know because you won't stop writing a.k.a hit a 'writer's block'. If you do hit it, the only option you have is to return to that roundabout and start again. Her words made so much sense, it left me in awe! XD

Now I can see more further along the story and as a result this chapter would have been much longer, but decided against putting up more as it would've been too much info in one go.

As a result, the update should follow much quicker, but that being said, I have two final assignments due this Thursday and Friday so (HOPEFULLY!) I'll work on them rather than the next chapter.

Expect an update somewhere around next week!

Thank you for checking out my work, all you lovely people! :D


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